BUCHAREST, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese New Year festivities here ended late Saturday with a spectacular show featuring artists from the Beijing Dance Academy at the Athenaeum concert hall.

The audience enjoyed a variety of artistic performances, including traditional Chinese dances as well as Romanian folklore and pop-opera moments.

The athenaeum gala was the last in a series of cultural events titled "Happy Chinese New Year," organized by the Chinese Embassy in Romania, together with Niro Investment Group and the Romanian-Chinese House.

The cultural event is not only to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but also the anniversary of the long and solid friendship and cooperation between China and Romania.

"2019 has a special significance because it marks 70 years of continuous diplomatic relations between Romania and China. It is remarkable how the two countries have managed to provide a solid model of cooperation based on friendship and mutual support, characterized by the search for common points of view, mutual respect and collaboration," said Tu Jiang, charge d'affaires ad interim of the Chinese Embassy in Romania.

"We trust that the bilateral relations will continue to expand to wider areas with the help of our Romanian partners," Tu added.

"The reverence we have in Romania towards the fascinating multi-millennian Chinese culture and civilization finds its reflection and joy in sharing with Chinese partners and friends the beginning of a new year that we want to be full of harmony and peace," said Viorel Stefan, Romania's deputy prime minister who also attended the event.

Stefan said that Romania, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) for the first half of this year, will work to further promote the relationship between China and the EU.

The opening of the event featured the Fiddlers Orchestra from Chisinau, the Republic of Moldova, led by Nicolae Botgros, alongside with singer Veta Biris, and followed by Distinto, the first pop-opera project in Romania.

The performance of the cheerful folk music of Romania expressed the good wishes of the Romanian people to the Chinese people.

A performance given by artists from the Beijing Dance Academy, one of the most prestigious dance schools in the world, was enthusiastically received by the audience.

The dancers' performance was based on the Chinese classic Guo Feng, one of the three main sections of Shi Jing, which is the first anthology of songs, poems and hymns in Chinese literature.

"It was a delight for me. The combination of colors so suited to the harmonious movements, with the grace of the young people on the stage enchanted me. In the first part of the show we admired the dynamism of the Romanian music, in the second part the refinement of the Chinese dance," the deputy prime minister told Xinhua.

The Romanian audience perceived the choreographer's vision, which created a whole dramatic representation integrating the poetic conceptions with modern ideas and awareness, presenting a natural communication through body expressions.

"I was fascinated by the sense of tradition you feel while looking at the dancers, completed by the feeling of modern, contemporary ballet probably suggested by music and movements. It was magic!" said Cristina Rosca, a Romanian who was among the audience.